News and Updates

The Electrum Potion

November 12th, 2008 by Lyle Maeterlinck

Announcing the much anticipated Electrum Potion! This potion gives the user the ability to move their soul from the possession of one avatar into the possession of another. So, for all of you that have wanted your soul to go to a special someone, now you have the power. However, to do this, there’s a price. The person receiving your soul must ransom another soul back to the current owner. So, the Electrum potion doesn’t change soul counts, it just trades the position of two souls. The person receiving the drinker’s soul must be present (within 20 meters) and must approve the transaction. They can choose to have any one of their souls go as ransom, or can choose a specific soul to go. The person losing the drinker’s soul does not need to be present and need not consent. Enjoy!

18 Responses to “The Electrum Potion”

Despite being one of the major Bloodlines supporters, I completely disagree with the creation and release of the Electrum Potion.

Its use will kill everything the definition of “Role-Play” stands for and instead turn the whole vampire system into a more “commercialized” entity.

Souls are acquired through biting fresh victims – who agree to be bitten – and through the use of the Soul Reaper which is another product “sold”.

The release of the reaper created its own soul market and further encouraged Bloodlines members to “communicate” with each other for the swap of their own souls to their beloveds – whether for free, for a price, or for soul(s) in exchange.

Now all these advances are “lost”. All you have to do is to pay 999 lindens for a potion to move your own soul around and convince the new possessor of your soul to swap it with one he holds.

On top of all these, I and many others value souls differently: human souls, destroyed souls, active vampires’ souls, souls with eternal protection, etc. Thanks to the Electrum Potion, now all are “just souls”. I can have be the possessor of your eternal protected soul and u can have it swapped with an alt avatar’s “human” soul.

No player-to-player interaction needed, no role-play involved. All you need is “linden dollars”. Thanks a lot!

An additional comment on my previous post as I talked to Bloodlines players about this:

CONCERN: The abundance of “non-negotiable” souls held “hostage” by their possessors who do not wish to trade these souls at all or ask for high prices in return.

SOLUTION: As Bloodlines – “the negotiator”, you set and enforce the “ransom price” for these souls through the Electrum Potion.

HOW:
1) Let Bloodlines players first try to “communicate” with each other for soul swaps with the reaper. If an agreement fails, then they have the option to use the Electrum Potion which should function in the below revised way:

2) Right now you sell the potion for 999 lindens which completely goes to Bloodlines except 3% commissions (L$30)from affiliate vendor sales. You “enforce” the swap of the soul WITHOUT the current holder’s will and open the way to have him get an alt soul in return after the swap.

If its a “hostage” situation as I wrote above, and you want to “help” the community, you do not “unfairly” help only one side without the other side’s will and make L$999 from it.

RP as the “negotiator”. For example, when someone uses the Electrum Potion to have his soul moved to someone else;

THE PREVIOUS HOLDER OF THE SOUL MUST BE COMPENSATED WITH MORE THAN ANOTHER SOUL IN EXCHANGE. IN THIS CASE, A PERCENTAGE OF THE ELECTRUM POTION’S PRICE WHICH CAN BE CALLED “RANSOM MONEY” FIX-SET BY THE NEGOTIATOR (BLOODLINES) CAN BE TRANSFERRED TO THE CURRENT HOLDER OF THE SOUL UPON USE OF THE POTIOIN IN ADDITION TO THE OTHER SOUL HE IS GETTING TO NOT TO AFFECT SOUL COUNT. THE NEGOTIATOR WILL GET THE REMAINING OF THE ELECTRUM POTION’S PRICE AS “NEGOTIATOR’S COMMISSION”.

This is helping the community with being the intermediatory party to enforce a fixed-ransom price for hostage souls.

The way it works now is helping only Bloodlines’ profits and ruining the whole community.

As whole I mean all registered Bloodlines players:

Today you may be happy to have your soul moved to someone else with a $999 investment, but tomorrow you can wake up and find all your hard-gained souls swapped with alt souls, destroyed souls, souls you never heard of. And what did you get for it? A BIG NOTHING.

You must be kidding… another push to get the soul whoring going full swing and to hell with the RP game elements.. This potion is a joke. The requirement that the soul has to be traded, nullifies the viability of this endeavour by promoting the status quo.

This, together with the move that only soul owners can form clans is a clear indication about the clique forming between mars & co and the large clans out there who do nothing but recruit clueless n00bs into the system making it little more than a “bite & rise” exercise..

Playing within the bloodlines system has become futile unless you are a braindead soul count comparing account keeper..

You’ve made enough money.. time to go back to engineering a game playing system that works for everyone and not just you and your clan buddies..

To add.. the game will adopt a much mre dynamic atmosphere if a soul count can as easily drop as rise.. it will allow for a lot more active interplay.. Keep your souls happy or they leave… Of course a lot of people will object to this.. and it is very obvious why.

Oh goodie, another item that will create more Alts in the game and cash flow for Bloodlines 😉 How about a link to see who has the Souls since now there’s a market for selling them. I personally know of 1 that was bought for $L20,000 plus 12 Souls.

@ Insomnis: I do somewhat agree that the Electrum Potion takes some of the RPing away from the soul ownership process, however, our largest source of complaints and demands for game changes come from these scenarios:

1) “My soul is owned by someone who doesn’t play anymore, but has an amulet, so it is ‘frozen’ permanently.”
2) “My soul is owned by someone who will never, ever relinquish it.”
3) “My soul is owned by someone who demands unfair restitution for it (20,000L, slavery, etc.)
4) “My soul was taken via a leech bite, and I never had any say in where it went or who owned it.”

This potion was designed to alleviate these difficulties, and allow people to RP having a bit of choice in the matter of who owns their soul.

Again, I do agree that it creates some reduction in RP drama, as well as the loss of “trophy” souls… however, until we get hundreds of complaints against this potion (to match the hundreds of complaints we’ve gotten over the limitations of soul ownership), it’s hard to justify removing it from play.

@ countercrunch: The idea that the creators of Bloodlines are somehow in cahoots with the large clans is, of course, not viable. In fact the loudest complaints are coming from large clan leaders (like Insomnis); this potion was designed to assist the people with little money or sway in Bloodlines politics. It was priced relatively expensively not to earn us more money, but to prevent it from being used constantly, and to allow ‘trophy’ soul owners with some bargaining power.

I agree with all (without looking at the reason). Every personal reason is a good one to place here as a comment.

However if this potion is made more with a outlook on the personal reasons why people want there souls being removed from a certain owner’s list, i think it is a good solution and the best.

The lag of respect and the overflood of drama that comes with the question when someone wants his soul swapped is more a pain in the ass.

There should be no lag of roleplay, hopefully everyone will see now that there is no need to play drama, and if that is worked out this potion is not needed for those people.

My soul is in my personal oppinion in a good persons list, if that person has a lot of money to spent in sl, it does not matter. Blaming Mars and the rest of liquid designs should also not be a matter in this for me, because as everyone can see, they try to do the best for the majority and filter the reasons of complaints well.

I also not want my soul in a list of a vampire who also does bdsm and forces me to be a slave, or want more souls back because there so called time is money, and they want to be compensated for that (no roleplay in my opinion).

If i see people in this roleplay that have no bites at all, but have over 200 souls bought on a so called soul auction, and they think that is fun. Than so be it, let them be happy and think they did a great job, let them think they are smart and funny.
As long as people think they can run arround as a vampire and find a trade in it, what was in my opinion never the goal of this bloodlines game, let them.
As a liege and minion I try to be there for my minions, they can ask me (most of the time) anytime about the roleplay and the hud and potions, they get free blood if they need it. If it is a newbie shitting in his pants because he or she realizes that he told me he is going to be a vampire, then i explain and try to convince him or her this is a good and social roleplay game in which you can make friendships and meet cool people from all over the world. (what they do with there SL, after. is sometimes a guess, and that indeed is a pitty)

The only drama i know in this Roleplay game is the one way drama that people think they can harras and abuse me because they believe the bullshit what other so called roleplayers told about me. And i laugh about it with a big ROFL. The ones whose words where changed to harras me, are mostly all in my liege now as minion, because at the end the truth rules.

If someone does his roleplay well and threats his fellow vampires (no matter what clan they are in) with respect as long as they deserve it, i do not think a lot of souls will swap in your list unknowingly. This potion is a good thing, and prized maybe expensive.

Everyone whit a soulreaper and a good common and social sence should be able to roleplay this out between mutual thinkers.

Only to save your soul from the (and let everyone has his own oppinion about this)rotten apples who think (e.g.)they could buy total clans, this potion is a good and mostly cheaper option (less stress and more fun to RP after).

In a virtual roleplay with over 270000 vampires but maybe half RL people behind those number, people need to compromise. If people see the real fun of RP and do not try to flow on the succes of this games succes. I think it would be a lot more fun. Products and objects have a price, souls not. Social effort and being reasonable loans.
Greetz Rob

Mars, I understand that you get complaints – every business does, real or otherwise. Its part of doing business and you have to try and minimise that, but this goes too far.

The fact that this potion allows a soul to be taken without consent from the soul holder is completely wrong. While I disagree with some of the soul trading practices out there, it completely devalues a soul, making the soul of a strong vampire, or clan leader, or even a “trophy soul”, equal to that of a newly created alt. It allows people to take their soul from you and replace it with one of no value, and you are powerless to prevent it.

Markets are driven by supply and demand. If some souls change hands for L$20,000, that is because they are worth that much to somebody, otherwise prices like that would never be paid. This potion completely undermines any natural market forces, and helps to ensure that the only people making any money are you and Lyle. This is not to say that those abusing the system should be allowed to continue, but if genuine souls have value, that should be preserved.

You have even admitted that it weakens the role play aspects of the game, a point which you have in the past used as a reason to make other changes because they strengthen the role play. It seems in this case, improved role play is not a concern so it makes me wonder just how committed you are to role play, or whether this is simply about the money, having recognised a demand from people wanting their souls moved.

Personally, I always allow souls that I hold to be swapped if someone wants their friend to have theirs, but I draw the line at this occurring without my consent.

The reasons given for this potion are flimsy at best. You created the infinity amulets and I dare say, have made quite a bit of money from them, now want to change the rules to make them less effective? That is not what I paid for. Real Life has kept me away from SL for over a month – does that mean Im not playing? What happens when I come back in a month or so to resume where I left off? As for #2 and #3. I look at it this way – if you sold your soul to the devil, do you think he should simply hand it over to your boyfriend/girlfriend simply because you asked? There has to be some form of negotiation there, and if he is not willing to hand it over, there is not a lot you can do.

Reason #4 is just silly. Second Life does not have the concept of souls. This is something that is added by Bloodlines. These people never had a soul to begin with, and when they find out that it now exists within the Bloodlines game, they immediately want it. As to not having any say, we all know that they had to give permission for the bite – if they claim otherwise they are simply trying to con you. If they dont join Bloodlines they have lost nothing. If they do, they should accept the workings of the game, and that they allowed themselves to be bitten, so the one who bit them now has their soul – there are ample warnings given, both with the blue popups, signs in the store, and in the instructions for the HUD.

Im sorry, but this potion is the beginning of the end for me. There is little point in collecting souls if they can simply be taken from you and replaced at random. I have spent a LOT of real money since I joined Bloodlines in May 2008 buying HUDS for people who could not afford them, in order to collect souls, and introduce them to the game. I have set up clans and maintain role play areas, but this is too much. I wont be giving even more money to a system that is more concerned with money than it is with role play. You have demonstrated this over the past few months being more concerned with security than with the majority of the players who simply want to role play. Constant HUD updates and readjusting not only my fangs (including moving NoCopy animations) but helping my clan members (many of whom are not technical) re-adjust theirs, for trivial security such as not being able to bit oneself is taking its toll, and this potion is just another nail in the coffin. (so to speak).

I like it. My GF was bitten by a Leach at Bloodlines during a shopping visit. This person wouldn’t even talk to me about a swap/ransom because she’s a lesbian. Another wannabe vamp ended up created a female alt to buy it, and at a steep price obtained it. Now, for a mere 999L I have it back.

To respond to these concerns: this potion is about dead ends, it clears up a couple of points that were previously impossible to get past: if an absent avatar with an infinity amulet has your soul, or if the person who has your soul would never make a deal to trade it.

First, be advised that anyone can’t just take any soul from you and replace it with another one. The only person that can switch one of your souls is the person whose soul it is. The only reason this potion would be used is if that person didn’t want you to have their soul, and you were holding it hostage against their will and were unwilling to negotiate. Now you have a reason to negotiate. For those of you who wanted to hold a soul hostage indefinitely against the person’s will, we’re sorry. Before, if you wanted a soul moved, you had to convince the soul holder to make a deal. Now, the tables are turned. If you want to keep one, you have to convince them to allow you to keep it.

All you have to do is make friends with the person whose soul it is, or when they come asking for it, make a deal with them that’s beneficial to all of you, and you have nothing to worry about. Here’s the new element to the bargain now: you don’t want to give up the soul, they don’t want to spend 999L to take it by force. So, we advise you both to make a deal that benefits you both. You can sell the soul to them for less than 999L or get to choose which soul you trade it for. Otherwise, you both have a less desirable situation: the potion drinker has to spend 999L and the person having the soul taken has no say in which soul they get in return. Now everyone has a reason to bargain, get it?

In response to the constant claim that all we care about is money – the reason we make things expensive is to make them rare. If we want something to not happen very often, we make it expensive. We wanted the Infinity Amulet to be the rarest thing in the game, so we made it expensive. If we made this potion cheap, people would be moving their souls all over the place all the time. The price is a deterrent. By reading the paragraph above, you can see that this isn’t a money-making scheme, we advise you not to use the potion. Use it only as a last resort. Here, I’ll even give away the secret to the Electrum potion: you shouldn’t need to buy it (unless in the case of a permanently logged-out avatar). You just need to use it’s existence as a bargaining point. Whether you can do this successfully depends on your cunning and creativity, and so does keeping the souls that you want to keep. Instead of taking anything away, I think the potion makes things more interesting for everyone. You’ve all adapted successfully to everything we’ve thrown at you so far, we have the utmost confidence that you can courageously adapt to this.

“By reading the paragraph above, you can see that this isn’t a money-making scheme, we advise you not to use the potion.”

Can you please copy and paste this sentence and send it to the whole Bloodlines community in-game in the next bulletin the same way the Electrum Potion was introduced to the market?

I will withdraw and give an end to all my criticism towards the potion if players are made aware that the potion’s creators do not recommend its use and are still pro the RPing elements of the Bloodlines system despite introducing anti-RP elements once every while..

sorry I find this not good you make money and we stil have give up a soul and loose on the end when we can not change soul or work it out and one more think you can give notcards out for info befor we buy not sit on it because we can not use and you bloodline ca start give out notcard in german to because we have to many people in german what play rolles not just in englishwhen you can not give first info for what you sell better start it now because your are just out to make money and help nothing for the ppl so we lost on our money on the end because no side work out and sit on lost from 1000l it was better use soulreaper cost lest meke so that we can get on the ventor some info befor we buy not after we get it this is wrong and looks like stealing money from ppl and help nothing on the end have a nice day all karl

We at Crimson Republic have created 3 language sections, the CR DUTCH HUNTERS, the CR FRENCH HUNTERS and the CR GERMAN HUNTERS. That’s where our vampires who are non-english native speakers get their questions answered.
These groups are not only for members of our clan, but open to all the BLOODLINES-Vampires who have questions or are willing to help in their language. For questions in german and french you can also contact me in-world (IMs sent to email if not online)